Sebastian Joe’s – Vanilla Affogato

“Best Way to Start a Morning”

So initially when I went into Sebastian Joe’s, I had only the intention of eating one of their unusual rotating flavors and writing up a review on that flavor. But after waking up from some delicious Roasted Plum Black Pepper sorbet, I had a chance to meet the owner of this establishment.

After a lengthy discussion about the history of Sebastian Joe’s and where the shop name came from, we started talking about how early the shop opens. He noted that he’s absolutely loves the affogato, and noted, “It’s the best way to start a morning.”

Skeptical, I note that I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but I do love ice cream. He interjects. “No, it’s the BEST way to start the morning.” He then starts to make me one, with barely a grunt of consent.

He finishes preparing the affogato and brings it over for me to try. I spoon a bite of vanilla and espresso together and take my fist bite. I thought I was awake before, but just like Homer Simpson taking his first bite of the Ribwich, the second the bite hit my throat, I was filled with an energy, my eyes opened wide (not sure if they dilated), and blood vessels filled with espresso caffeine goodness. I low-key felt like the nerves in my hands were firing, and a small tremble began to emanate for a brief second. I think this will probably take about a year off my life, but I be that was a shitty year anyways- most likely wallowing in an old people home.

Another way to describe it would be like the scene from Get Him to the Greek, where Jonah Hill’s thinks he’s having a heart attack and he gets a shot of adrenaline to the heart. And like in the movie, my heart hadn’t stopped either, but I still got the adrenaline. It took all I had to stop myself from hulking out with energy, and remain polite enough to engage in further conversation. For reals, it was super hard to control myself and not run a 4 second 40.

Energy Aside, because the vanilla ice cream is present, there is an interesting hot/cold dynamic going on where the ice cream cools you after the piping hot liquid flows down the back of your mouth. The ice cream also serves as a creamer (obvious, I know), but it’s nice to explicitly state this, as without it, I think the espresso would be too harsh, at least for my delicate little mouth.

After all was said and done, I finish my affogato, and I think the owner sees my bottled energy. He then gives we a wry smile and says, “The BEST way to start a morning…”

Damn. That was so cool, I can’t help but respect this man even more.

Affogato Conclusions

I’m not the biggest drinker of coffees (in that I think the ONLY time I ever consume coffee is when it’s the flavoring of ice cream or alcohol). So having me judge an ice cream espresso combo is a little difficult for me to do since I’m not giving a true comparison here. That said, I can say this affogato is great in that it definitely gives you the energy to kick-start the morning, and the ice cream is thick enough so that it doesn’t melt too quickly. Despite the fact this is an Italian word, I think gelatos would not work as well as ice cream, because of the fact it was melt and swampify the dessert beverage too quickly. Personally I think the espresso might be a little bit more intense than what I’m used to, but if that’s up your alley, then this ice cream/coffee combo is definitely a good way to go.